India, May 17 -- The external affairs ministry on Saturday refuted claims on social media that external affairs minister S Jaishankar had acknowledged that India alerted Pakistan before the launch of Operation Sindoor on May 7, describing the reports as an "utter misrepresentation".

The clarification followed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's attack on the government on the grounds that the Indian side informing Pakistan ahead of the military strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was a "crime".

"The external affairs minister had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Operation Sindoor's commencement," the external publicity (XP) division of the ministr...